GORE SUPPORTING RESIDENCY STATUS FOR CUBAN CHILD

Breaking from administration policy on a highly volatile issue, Vice President Al Gore said today that 6-year-old Elian Gonzalez and several family members should be given permanent residency status in the United States.

Mr. Gore's statement seemed to take some officials in the Clinton administration by surprise, coming as it did in the midst of negotiations between immigration officials, who want to return the boy to his father in Cuba, and relatives who have been caring for him in Miami.

Today, the government agreed to extend until at least next Tuesday the relatives' temporary custody of the boy.

In his statement, Mr. Gore said he was supporting legislation sponsored by Senators Bob Graham, Connie Mack and Robert C. Smith that would allow Elian to stay in the United States while his case is adjudicated in family court.

If the court decided that he should be with his father, Elian would return to Cuba. But when he reached adulthood he could then decide, Cuba willing, to return to the United States, where he would resume permanent residency status. A step short of citizenship, that status denies a person voting rights, the ability to serve on a jury and access to certain public assistance. It also makes him subject to deportation if he commits a crime.

Legislation is necessary in this case because the law generally requires a person to live in the United States for five years before becoming eligible to apply for permanent residency.

''From the very beginning, I have said that Elian Gonzalez's case is at heart a custody matter,'' Mr. Gore said in the statement. ''It is a matter that should be decided by courts that have the experience and expertise to resolve custody cases, with due process, and based on Elian's best interests.

''It now appears that our immigration laws may not be broad enough to allow for such an approach in Elian's case. That is why I am urging Congress to immediately pass legislation that is being sponsored by Senators Bob Graham and Bob Smith, which would grant permanent resident status to Elian, his father, stepmother, half-brother, grandmothers and grandfather, so that this case can be adjudicated properly.''

Mr. Gore's statement marks his strongest breach yet with the administration and comes as Cuban exiles and officials in Miami are threatening massive protests if the administration sends the boy back to Cuba.

Advisers to Mr. Gore said his statement stemmed logically from his earlier position that the matter should be treated as a custody case.

But it stunned several members of his own party, including some in the administration, who said they could not fathom his timing or his reasoning. ''Oh, my God, it's unbelievable!'' one administration official blurted out in a private conversation.

Among the most vocal about her surprise was Representative Maxine Waters, a liberal California Democrat, who said that Mr. Gore's position was making her reconsider her support for his presidential bid.

The legislation was introduced on Wednesday by Mr. Graham, a Florida Democrat and an oft-mentioned vice-presidential possibility for Mr. Gore, and by Mr. Mack, Republican of Florida. Mr. Smith, Republican of New Hampshire, who met with the boy earlier, said Senator Trent Lott, the majority leader, had indicated to them that the Senate might be reluctant to support citizenship for Elian, as Mr. Graham and Mr. Smith had proposed earlier, but that lawmakers might be amenable to this proposal for permanent residency.

Still, Mr. Lott could not be reached for comment and there was no indication of the prospects of such a bill or whether the majority leader would allow it to the floor.

In the House, a similar measure has been introduced by Representative Robert Menendez, Democrat of New Jersey, the only other state with a significant Cuban population. Mr. Menendez's bill would give permanent residency status only to Elian, not to his relatives. Prospects for passage in the House are uncertain.

An error has occurred. Please try again later.

You are already subscribed to this email.

Mr. Gore's statement, the most definitive he has made in the case, is certain to appeal to Florida's 800,000 Cuban-Americans, who could swing the electorate in November in the nation's fourth-largest state.

And it brings Mr. Gore into line with the position outlined in January by Gov. George W. Bush of Texas, his Republican rival for the presidency, who said then that he supported citizenship for Elian.

''I'm glad the vice president now supports legal residency for Elian Gonzalez,'' Mr. Bush said today. ''I wish he could convince the rest of the administration of the wisdom of that approach.''

Still, many Democrats said they were surprised. Ms. Waters said in an interview: ''I was totally blindsided. The calculation doesn't make sense. If Gore did it because he's trying to get the anti-Castro Cubans, first of all, they're not going to vote for him anyway. These are Republicans. And number two, the last polls I saw a month ago showed the American public is on the side of sending Elian back to his father.''

Senator Graham said that Mr. Gore had indicated all along that he wanted the matter treated as a custody case and that what was new was his support for permanent residency status. Mr. Graham said that if the family court determined that Elian should be with his father in Cuba -- and the prevailing presumption in the United States is that a child generally belongs with a biological parent -- he and the vice president would support returning the boy to Cuba until he reached adulthood.

''I would support that position and I think the vice president would,'' Mr. Graham said.

Mr. Graham, who said the Senate had taken the first steps toward petitioning the majority to bring his bill to the floor, added, ''The purpose of this legislation is to try to be a channel to move this case from an I.N.S. asylum case to a family court.''

That was the purpose behind Mr. Gore's statement, his aides said. ''This was the only way to vindicate the principle, that this should be decided in a court that deals with custody cases,'' a top adviser said. Contrary to some suggestions, he added, Mr. Gore's action may have the effect of calming the people of Miami rather than stirring them up.

But he definitely stirred up Washington, including some on his own staff. ''This was not something that was discussed, chewed over and thought out for a long time or that huge numbers of people were consulted on,'' this adviser said.

At the White House, Jake Siewert, a spokesman for President Clinton, said that Mr. Gore had alerted Mr. Clinton in advance and that the president was not upset. ''We knew there would be times when he differed with the president,'' Mr. Siewert said.

Maria Cardona, a spokeswoman for the Immigration and Naturalization Service, said: ''We've stated in the past we don't believe Congressional action is appropriate in this situation. There is a father who speaks for his son and has made it very clear that he wants to be reunited with him.''

Doug Hattaway, a spokesman for Mr. Gore, said the vice president ''clearly disagrees with the I.N.S. and the Justice Department.''

Mr. Gore's break with the administration is the most dramatic of his campaign to date, though he has differed from administration policy a number of times, including a requirement that his appointees to the Joint Chiefs of Staff support allowing gays to serve openly in the military.

Correction: April 1, 2000, Saturday A front-page article yesterday about Vice President Gore's call to grant permanent residency status to Elian Gonzalez and his Cuban family misstated a requirement for obtaining that status. Although there are several ways to obtain permanent residency status, applicants need not have lived in the United States for five years.